sugar & spice

croissant. In particular, the cherry and cream cheese kolaches connect the sisters to their roots.

“Over time, we’ve developed and trained with modern techniques, as we love to grow within our industry and always keep up with the latest trends,” says Sava, “but we always draw inspiration from our childhood. Something you’ll often see on our menu is Amarena cherries – we love this sweet and sour cherry that adds so much brightness to any pastry. When we were young, we had a cherry tree of our own, and every year, Mom would preserve the cherries for winter baking.”

Sava and Komodi’s confections are classically European but with a southern Missouri flair. They use quality European ingredients such as Belgian chocolate and French preserves alongside locally sourced ingredients such as grass-fed milk from Edgewood Creamery, apples from A & A Orchard and sausage from Circle B Ranch for their quiche.

“We really want to support smaller local farms, too. We were smaller guys at one point, and people had to support us and believe in us. It’s important to not just support local in general but [to] also give people a chance to do very well. You get to become part of their success story. I think you’ll find us at the farmers’ market every Saturday,” says Komodi. “It is a lifestyle for us,” adds Sava.

Although they were slow to embrace a future in baking, with eight years in business on the table now, both sisters have discovered their niches. Komodi focuses on the scientific side of things, such as finicky chocolates, mousses and cakes, while Sava is in charge of all things yeast and dough, such as croissants and bread for Rise, the new brunch concept the pair opened in February. “She is a lot more intuitive, which is what helps when you work with things like dough and yeast,” Komodi says of Sava. “You kind of have to learn it and feel it. Every day is different. I am very logical in my ways. I develop a technique. It’s perfect. It works every time. I am very precise when it comes to my technique, so it drives me crazy when she just adds a pinch of something.”

“I’m like, ‘Just relax, just relax,’” Sava chimes in with a laugh, “and then, she’s like, ‘How does your cake even turn out?’ To me, everything comes down to a really well-rounded technique.”

Komodi and Sava work in silos in the kitchen, leading separate teams. “She trains her own people and I train my own,” says Sava. “Whenever I hire people, I’m like, ‘How do you bake? How do you like baking? What’s your passion for it?’ And if they answer, ‘Well, I’ll figure it out if the dough doesn’t look right,’ I’m like, ‘OK, great. I need a person who will figure it out.’ A lot of the baking I do is about figuring it out; it’s not based on a recipe.”

When European Café’s neighboring business, Queen City Wine Dive, closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the sisters were presented with the opportunity to finally open the second concept they had been dreaming about for three years. Specifically, they wanted their new concept to bring big city vibes to Springfield, offer unique food with a few familiar dishes and showcase local farmers and local produce. But opening Rise has also allowed the pair to utilize their talents in an entirely new way.

“Rise is our dream come true,” says Sava. “We’re always joking that unlike most people, we travel for food. It’s our absolute obsession and life’s work.”

A few things on the menu, including the Belgian yeast waffles and ricotta pancakes, are recipes that they have been working on for years, making them two of their favorites. “Bread is Christina’s obsession,” says Komodi. “It was clear that no matter the cost, we were going to make proper bread in-house.”

Everything at the brunch spot is made in-house though – even the yogurt, mayonnaise, ricotta and chicken stock. Sava spent many late nights in the kitchen perfecting the challah French toast and focaccia, in particular, and Komodi used her penchant for sugar to create the sweet side of the menu, with offerings such as strawberry and cream pancakes with whipped vanilla mascarpone, macerated strawberries and strawberry dust.

“I think successful businesses don’t stop growing and don’t stop adding on,” says Sava. “We have an amazing customer base now, so we could be very content and sit back and just let it happen as is, but we understand that we also have a responsibility to them. We gained their trust, and they’re with us because of how amazing it is. We build these relationships with them, and we’re part of their weddings or baby showers at some point. So now, we get to see them come in with their babies, and we want to grow with them. We want to continue to offer them services and things that inspire them and make them feel at home.”

As home cooks embrace bread baking, interest in flours made from whole and ancient grains is on the rise. From buckwheat to rye, explore five popular ancient grains and how to use them.

Written by Heather Riske

If there was a single food that defined our lives in quarantine, it was sourdough bread. As stay-at-home orders went into effect across the country and many began spending more time in the kitchen, finding a sack of all-purpose flour or a package of yeast felt like winning the larder lottery. Faced with a shortage of baker’s yeast, many turned to naturally leavened breads, such as sourdough, which rely instead on wild yeast and the lactic acid bacteria that’s naturally present in flour.

Baking bread – particularly sourdough – at home can be a laborintensive process, but simply speaking, it comes down to three things: flour, water and yeast. And as restaurants and bakeries turned into mini grocery stores, selling everything from fresh produce to locally milled flour, many bakers found themselves experimenting beyond all-purpose flour, reaching instead for those made with ancient and heirloom grains.

“There’s only so much in the family of bread that you can adjust and change, so you have to go deeper into the layers of what’s there,” says AJ Brown, co-owner of Knead Bakehouse and Provisions in St. Louis. “As far as the flour aspect, there’s a whole family of grains that you can dive into. When you’re trying to add uniqueness or different flavor components to your breads, the grains themselves are one of the key factors of making really good bread. So if you’re interested in making bread and starting that journey, it just makes sense that you’re going to go as deep into the grain process as possible.”

As the local food movement grows, ancient grains such as buckwheat, einkorn and spelt have seen renewed interest. These grains have not been hybridized and remained largely the same for thousands of years, so they’re less processed than modern wheat. Unlike refined flour, which is milled to the point that it only retains the starchy endosperm, ancient grains (like other whole grains) retain the germ and bran, so they’re higher in vitamins, minerals and fiber. But flours made with these grains also lend complex flavors to all manner of baked goods, from cookies and cakes to pancakes and waffles to, yes, sourdough.

“In the past 10 years, the farm-to-table movement has become that much bigger,” says Clif Brown (no relation), who co-owns Neighbor’s Mill Bakery & Café in Springfield, Missouri. “Of course, that’s eventually going to trickle down to the bread that we eat. When it comes to cooking and baking, being in control of every ingredient is paramount. That comes down to the grain that we use, where it comes from and how we use it. It’s all about having the knowledge of where your food comes from – knowing more about the things that we’re putting in our bodies, where they come from and, ultimately, how they taste. And they will always taste better.”

Ancient grains are nothing new – but when it comes to baking, they just might be the future.